EXCLUSIVE: ICE Union President: Rubio Must 'Leave' the Gang of 8

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents’ union president Chris Crane called on Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to abandon the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” in the U.S. Senate pushing immigration reform on Friday in a statement obtained exclusively by Breitbart News.

“Senator Rubio was asked during a recent interview that ‘if you don’t get enforcement first, or securing the borders first, is that a deal killer for you?,'” Crane said. “And he replied ‘Absolutely…Because we will be right back here again.’ But the outline from the Gang of 8 offers legalization, or amnesty, before enforcement is accomplished. Senator Schumer admitted as much: ‘we’ve come to a basic agreement, which is that first, people will be legalized…Then, we will make sure the border is secure.’ I would then respectfully call on Senator Rubio to follow through on his commitment to the American people — and his pledge to accomplish enforcement before legalization – and to leave the Gang of 8.”

Rubio still has an opportunity to leave the group if he wants. The Washington Post reported earlier this month, Rubio “can just say Democrats rushed it, or didn’t allow enough amendments.”

While the group of senators–Republicans Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Jeff Flake and Rubio, and Democrats Michael Bennet, Robert Menendez, Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin–have not briefed their respective caucuses or the Senate Judiciary Committee on the details of the forthcoming legislation, information leaked to the media by their offices suggests that border security will not come first.

“There is nothing in the proposed plan that I have seen to suggest that there will be any effort to accomplish enforcement before legalization occurs,” Crane said. “Moreover, a lack of strong and immediate interior enforcement means the US will again become a sanctuary for the millions of illegal aliens who undoubtedly will flood across our nation’s borders in the future. Once across the border, guidance from the Obama administration will continue to prohibit ICE officers from enforcing immigration laws on the interior of the United States providing illegal aliens with safe haven and residence.”

Crane added that what he has noticed as the “only precondition to amnesty” in the Gang of Eight outline is one that requires Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to “submit a ‘plan’ about how she’ll secure the border years after millions of illegal aliens have already been granted amnesty.”

Crane noted, too, that ICE officers–the men and women of law enforcement who are charged with upholding America’s immigration laws inside the country, after people make it through the border–have requested meetings with the White House and the Gang of Eight on immigration reform but both have refused to hear from them.

A Menendez spokesperson, Crane said, told the media ICE officers were refused a meeting because: “‘Since the Gang of 8 has not met with anybody else, they did not agree to meet with the ICE union president.”

“Contrary to these statements from the Gang of 8, however, news reporters have repeatedly indicated that the Gang has consulted with the powerful Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and many others,” Crane rebuts Menendez and the Gang. “Someone clearly isn’t telling the American people the truth regarding the Gang’s activities or their alliances.”